Helping Smallholder Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa Escape Poverty

In June 1976, Scientific American magazine called center pivot irrigation machines “perhaps the most significant mechanical innovation in agriculture since the replacement of draft animals by the tractor.”1

Nowhere in the world is that more visible than in the United States where widespread conversion to center pivot irrigation has transformed irrigated agriculture and the landscape.

The center pivot concept is simple. A long pipeline, attached to a central point, travels over a field in a circle. As it passes over crops, sprinklers spaced along the pipeline emit water, nourishing the crop below. Although the center pivot construct is simple, its effects have been revolutionary. Using mechanized irrigation equipment, U.S. growers increased their revenue and their crop yields. They grow more food with less water while being released from the drudgery of conventional irrigation methods.

Founded by Robert Daugherty in 1946, Valmont® Industries has sold more than 250,000 of its Valley® brand of center pivot machines worldwide, and those machines irrigate more than 12.5 million hectares around the globe. The crop circles created by Daugherty’s vision can be seen all around the world – even in the desert.

Pivot irrigation in the United States grain belt.

Pivot irrigation in the United States grain belt.

Aggressive investments in irrigation, hybrid seeds, and fertilizer during the past 50 years brought famine and poverty under control in Latin America, China, and South Asia. However, most of sub-Saharan Africa made little progress during the same time period. Economists and social scientists cite many reasons for this failure, from the tribal nature of society to the lack of institutional support for investments in technology and infrastructure.

An exception in sub-Saharan Africa is South Africa where Valmont introduced center pivots in the 1970s and built its first manufacturing facility in 1986. The technology migrated into Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, and Kenya. Currently, more than 90 percent of Valmont’s business in Africa is with medium and large commercial farmers, who are experiencing tremendous success. The same drivers of this success can serve as a model for smallholder growers.

“We are now looking at how this tool can work for small farmers,” said Rich Berkland, vice president of international sales at Valmont Irrigation. “Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, well over 90 percent of farmers are subsistence farmers. The population spends over half its annual income on food, leaving very little for education, health, and housing needs.”

In contrast, only 6 percent of U.S. household income is spent on food.2

Yet there is great agricultural potential in sub-Saharan Africa. It has vast areas with good soil, plentiful water, and a climate that can support double or triple cropping. Many African smallholder farmers remain poor because they are dependent on rainfall, making them vulnerable to drought and climate change. These disadvantages could be eliminated by irrigation, which roughly doubles the output of agricultural land production.

Only 4 percent of farmland in Africa is irrigated, and certainly the growers could benefit from the practice. But modern technologies, such as center pivots, are often cited as too expensive for Africa’s smallholder farmers. Indeed, the cost per hectare is too high for a 1-10 hectare pivot.

However, if small farmers can be organized to share a center pivot, the cost drops dramatically. Figure 1 and and Chart 1 demonstrate the dramatic reduction in cost of a center pivot once the radius of the field exceeds 300 meters.

Area of a Circle

Figure 1: Area of a Circle

Cost per Hectare

Chart 1 is based on the typical cost for water supply, which may not be applicable to all conditions.

“Valmont is working to develop a model of shared pivots for small growers,” Berkland said. “If those same growers pool their resources they can greatly increase their effectiveness.”

An association of smallholder farmers, or a large commercial producer serving as an irrigation and crop marketing provider, can own and operate the center pivot in cooperation with the smallholder farmers.

This approach puts precise, efficient irrigation technology into the hands of smallholder farmers, and the impact on farm production is dramatic because water is available when the crop requires it.

Widespread use of this model could turn subsistence farmers into profitable commercial farmers by increasing yield and empowering farm workers to increase their incomes by using less labor for irrigation.

The choice of center pivot irrigation has the potential to jump-start the development of modern agriculture in Africa. Once the infrastructure is built, once the inputs are available and once the farmers are organized, there will be water for a full crop all year round.

Without irrigation, Africa will remain in a state of poverty no matter how much money is spent on infrastructure and training. With efficient irrigation, Africa can feed itself and the world.